QUORA: Why can't libertarians name a single successful libertarian experiment in running a country?--2

QUORA: Why can't libertarians name a single successful libertarian experiment in running a country?--2

Here is my original answer to this question. A related Question was posed in the answer column by Ted Lesher: 

Many responses to this question cite countries with “economic freedom” as being successful. Could someone explain what is mean (sic) by “economic freedom,” particularly in those countries? Could someone explain the relationship between such “economic freedom” and libertarian ideals?

I left this answer:

The best way to understand economic freedom is to consider the nature of religious freedom. Religious freedom is made possible by the doctrine of separation of church and state. This means that people are free to choose and practice their conscientious beliefs (religious or nonreligious) so long as they don’t violate the same rights of others.

Likewise, economic freedom is the doctrine of separation of church and state applied to economics—the separation of economics and state in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of church and state. People are free to work, contract, and trade so long as they do not violate the same rights of others.

Under separation of church (or mosque or synagogue, etc.) and state, the government is neutral, neither imposing nor forbidding nor dictating any religious doctrines, interests, or activities, such as imposing a tax to support a favored religion or mandating Sunday worship or school prayer sessions. Under church/state separation, the government steps in only when someone initiates force or fraud against others, say by sexually mutilating women and girls or by denying a minor child essential medical attention on the pretext that “God will provide.” 

Likewise, under separation of economics and state, the government is neutral, neither imposing nor forbidding nor dictating any economic activity, such as regulating prices and wages, labor organizing, contracting, or imposing taxes and granting subsidies to favor one economic interest over or at the expense of others, etcetera. Under economics/state separation, the government steps in only when someone initiates force or fraud against others, such as cheating a consumer by misrepresenting one’s work product, breach of contract, or whose work interferes with the use or enjoyment of the property of another. 

Absent rights violations of others, each individual is free to follow his conscience (religious freedom) or work and trade with others on mutually agreed terms (economic freedom), without government interference. ( I am indebted to philosopher Ayn Rand for identifying this parallel.)

Like religious freedom, economic freedom relates to the “libertarian ideal” insofar as that ideal means each individual has the inalienable right to freely live and act by the judgement of his own reasoning mind in pursuit of his own goals, values, and happiness. Since economics is the field of work, trade, and voluntary cooperation in which humans must engage to materially support their own individual lives, economic freedom is integral to the “libertarian ideal” of individual freedom.

I should add that full economic freedom has never been achieved. All economies, even the freest, have been burdened by some level of government interference, distortion, cronyism, and hampering. Also, there’s more to economic freedom than just economics. A substantial level of political and intellectual freedom are required for economic freedom to fully flourish over the long term. But generally, the prosperity enjoyed by a country’s citizens directly correlates to the degree of economic freedom they enjoy.

Related Reading:

QUORA: 'Why can't libertarians name a single successful libertarian experiment in running a country?'

 The Capitalist Manifesto—Andrew Bernstein